A Nevada Democrat sponsoring a bill that would ban funding for a federal nuclear waste repository without stakeholder consent said this week that the Joe Biden administration and the Department of Energy are in the Silver State’s corner.
“With President Biden and Secretary Granholm, I believe we have partners who will help advance these ideas and move the United States towards a lasting solution, and I look forward to continuing to work with them on a consent based process or nuclear waste disposal,” Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) said in a pre-recorded message at a webinar hosted by the Truman Center Monday.
Titus referenced findings of the Obama-era Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, which suggested a consent-based process for siting a permanent repository for spent fuel. Newly-minted Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm referenced the 2012 bipartisan committee report at a White House press conference April 8.
Granholm also said that the administration will look into a storage solution for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, but that any fix will need to be “based on community agreement.” She declined to say when any sort of review would take place.
All this as the Nevada Congressional delegation looks to stop the Yucca Mountain repository in their state for good with new legislation barring the Department of Energy from using the Nuclear Waste Fund for any repository without receiving consent from a broad array of stakeholders such as the host state, local governments and indigenous tribes. Titus and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) reintroduced the measure in March — it’s more or less the same one that died in committee in 2019.
